Jesus Was Not a Biblical Literalist

How Jesus Read the Bible, Part 1

We model almost everything on Jesus. We pray the way he taught us to pray. We try to forgive the way he forgave, or welcome the way he welcomed, or serve the way he served. In fact, entire traditions have built their ethics, politics, and their posture toward enemies on his example. And then, strangely, when it comes to how we read the Bible, a lot of us set his example down and pick up some method he never used.

So that is the question this series wants to sit with.

If Jesus is worth imitating in the rest of life, why not in how he handled the scriptures too?

Bible Drill

I grew up in a Southern Baptist church where we had this thing called Bible Drill. If you’ve never heard of it (I think other denominations might call it something else), a teacher would call out a scripture reference, and then we would flip as fast as we could to find the verse. And it was a legit organized competition. I was never great at it (my brain doesn’t connect with body fast enough.) It’s the same reason I am terrible at the card game Dutch Blitz.

I HATE that game.

The fast action Dutch Blitz Card Game

Anyway, the lesson underneath Bible Drill was that every verse weighed the same. Even if it was never said out loud, I grew up believing that a line from Leviticus carried the exact same authority as a line from the Sermon on the Mount. And the faithful thing was to find the verse, read it plainly, and do what it said. Yet, that approach looks nothing like how Jesus or his neighbors read the Scriptures.

How a first-century Jew read the Bible

First, you need to know that Jesus didn’t own a modern day, Bible. It’s ridiculous that I have to even say that, but many folks don’t think about it. The Bible Jesus knew was the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings, that were read aloud in synagogue and memorized from childhood. And the people reading it alongside him did not read it flat. Jewish interpretation in that era was alive, argumentative, and wildly creative. Teachers debated each other in public. We have record of it. Famous rabbis disagreed about hundreds of questions, and those disagreements were written down and preserved with honor. Reading scripture meant wrestling with it, and the wrestling was the point.

What Jesus actually did with the text

We can read in Luke 4 when Jesus gets up and reads from the scroll of Isaiah in his hometown synagogue and he proclaims good news to the poor and release to captives, and then all the sudden stops mid-sentence. If he would have kept reading, the next line in Isaiah was about God’s vengeance, but he rolled the scroll up before he got there.

Then, in the Sermon on the Mount he says, you have heard it said, quotes scripture, and then says, but I say to you, and gives a different direction. An eye for an eye becomes turn the other cheek. Hate your enemy becomes love your enemy. Something unique is happening there.

Finally, there’s another time when someone asks him which commandment is greatest, he does not say they are all equal. He names two, love God and love your neighbor, and says everything else hangs on those.

Reading with a center

It’s pretty clear—Jesus did not read scripture flat. He read it with a center. Some verses were load-bearing for him and others were not, and he trusted that God the Father was more merciful than the vengeance line in Isaiah and more interested in people than being precise. And that is okay!

Don’t miss this, friends…

A literalist reads to find out what the verse says.

Jesus read to find out what God is like.

Those are very different things, and when those two things get pulled apart, we find that Jesus went with God every time.

Next week, we are going to talk about load-bearing verses, or the passages Jesus built everything else on. We are just getting started.

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I want to encourage you to do something a little wild this week. Write a thank-you note to someone who has no idea they helped you. An actual hand-written note on paper if you can swing it. This could be a teacher from 20 years ago, a co-worker that brings you joy, or maybe a neighbor who waves every morning. Keep it to 3 or 4 sentences and then mail it or hand it to them. It sounds simple, but this practice can be so powerful.

I may have recommended this book before, but it’s worth mentioning again as Dr Amy Jill Levine has been under attack online this week after being elected as the first Jewish president of Catholic Biblical Association. Dr Levine is a brilliant scholar, funny, generous, and she will change how you hear almost every story Jesus is in. Click the cover below to order it.

It has been a little bit since I mentioned my garden. It has gone so well, and we just finished making our third big batch of homemade salsa. We have more peppers than we know what to do with, and our tomatoes have been so delicious. We have learned so much this year and we are already making plans for next spring.

Let me know if you have any fun ideas for serrano peppers!

Yall are the best. Truly. Have a great week! Until next time…